The Ocean Never Ends
by nwyd
Summary: Adrift and alone in a strange new world, Penny finds herself following a shirtless narcoleptic while elsewhere, Nico gets dragged around by a grinning kid with a straw hat. Finding each other and a way back home isn't going to be easy, but with new friends and Nakama by their sides, they just might be able to do it- and discover what it means to be truly free as well.
1. Chapter 1

**The Ocean Never Ends**

 _And neither will we._

 **Chapter 1**

Nico is actually pretty good at shadow travelling now.

If you don't count the accidental trips to China or when he landed in the shadow of a sleeping elephant or the time he ended up in the middle of a hooded cult that immediately tried to sacrifice him or – _anyway_.

Not the point.

That was a long time ago, when he was just starting out and getting used to his powers and definitely not trying to fight off a bunch of weirdoes with ancient magical rocks of power while sorta tipsy and carrying a sleepy and also a little drunk Penelope Jackson.

It would definitely be a different story if they were both awake and sober, but as it is, Nico is pretty hard-pressed to fend off the delusional fanatics while keeping Penny out of trouble.

 _Not cool, guys_.

His zombie army is being taken out easily by a bunch of glowing rocks – seriously, what in _Hades_ \- so Nico decides its time for him to leave.

Fortunately, there's a very convenient shadow to his right.

Much less fortunately, he manages to accidentally stomp on a sparkly blue stone and crush it beneath his heel as he begins to shadow travel.

That, he decides later, was definitely the one mistake to rule them all.

Then the shadow-travel decides to screw up, and it _really_ feels like he's riding a charging chimera into a battle filled with knives and other pointy projectiles, which is an interesting experience but definitely not one he wants to repeat cause he's feeling kinda sick and-

He throws up, and promptly manages to somehow drop Penny in the middle of inky shadowy darkness.

 _Aw crap_ , he thinks as light finally reappears and he's dumped somewhere in the middle of the ocean. _Where's Penny?_

He spits out a mouthful of seawater and blinks blearily at the sun.

 _Poseidon is gonna kill me._

-x- -x- -x-

The last thing Penny remembers seeing was a bunch of crazy people waving rocks around and converging on her and Nico, before she decides what the heck, her head hurts and Nico can take care of these guys no problem and promptly buries her head in his shoulder and takes a nap.

The next thing she knows, she is being dumped in the ocean, which does wonders to wake her up and fix her head but very little for her mood.

 _Damnit, Nico._

She's all set to give him a good dunking when she realizes something very important.

Nico is missing.

She's alone, and he's dumped her in the middle of the sodding ocean- one of the best places she could have been dumped, but _still_. When she gets her hands on him, he's going from ghost king to _ghost_.

Because he is so dead.

Penny is just about to will the currents to take her back home, before she freezes in place.

The water still listens, still bends to her will. But it is far wilder than any ocean she knows, harsher and more dangerous.

Water is her territory, Earth's oceans her playground.

This is not an ocean she knows.

 _This is not her world._

-x- -x- -x-

Nico gives up on calling for Penny after a while. He can't see or hear her, and in any case, there is nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see. That's Penny's territory, and she would have a far better chance of finding him.

"This sucks," he grumps, floating on his back like a starfish. He'd try and shadow-travel himself out of there, but there aren't any useable shadows near him and he has to save his energy to travel both him and Penny home.

That one trip away from those maniacs drained him far worse than expected.

He floats around a while longer before his stomach lets out an embarrassingly loud growl, and he jerks his head up to glare at it. "Seriously?"

One hand jabs irritably at his stomach as the other roots around in his pockets, before emerging with a squashed energy bar, half of which is promptly devoured. After a moment's consideration, he shoves the other half in his mouth as well – no use putting it back in his pocket to get soggy and gross.

The sun beats down with an intensity that is both comforting and annoying, and Nico floats and drifts as the heat slowly lulls him to a state of semi-consciousness.

He tries shadow-travelling again, but he's far too drained and with nothing but the sun and sea for miles around, shadows are in short supply.

 _I've survived Kronos, Tartarus and so much shit just to drown because I got lost in an ocean. This freaking sucks_ , he thinks, and shuts his eyes. _Father is never going to let me live this down._

"Hey, look! A dead person!" A voice draws his attention like Grover to Enchiladas, but before he can react, something wraps around his arm and sends him flying into the air.

 _Oh shit_ , he barely has time to think before landing face first on solid wood. "Oww," he groans, before freezing in place. _A ship! I'm saved!_

"Oh, wait. He's not dead – Ow, Nami, why'd you hit me?" The same cheerful voice was back, switching rapidly from nonchalant to indignant.

"Luffy, you idiot! Don't drag dead people onto our ship!" Shrill, young, female.

"But he's alive!"

"You didn't know that! Anyway, stop dragging random strangers on board! We're pirates, not a charity cruise!"

A pirate ship. Nico just can't catch a damn break, can he?

Well, no use putting things off. They don't really _seem_ like the bad sort.

"Hi," he says finally. "I'm Nico. Thanks for the save." Then, when a more pressing concern makes itself known, "Do you have any food?"

-x- -x- -x-

If she closes her eyes, Penny can feel everything in the water for miles around, from islands to boats to fish and weird giant sea creatures.

No Nico, though.

It might be a good thing for him, to not be stuck in a different world, but that would also ruin almost any chance she has of getting home as well.

Oh well, it's not like she had much to lose anyway. Better not to think about it.

If Nico is really in this world too, she'll find him. Or he'll find her, which is actually more likely.

In the meantime, she starts swimming.

Less than an hour later, Penny has resorted to solidifying a wave and sitting on it like a boat as it speeds across the ocean. As long as she's touching the water, her strength doesn't wane, and it's a far more comfortable ride than it would have been otherwise.

She's just over halfway to the next island when a storm hits. It's not a huge problem for her, since the storm isn't even that big, and she can barely feel it once she drops into the ocean.

That tiny yellow boat about twenty feet to her right however, might be having a little trouble. Especially since the one person manning it just fell into the ocean.

 _I'm a good person_ , Penny reminds herself as she dives for him. And she is, just a little tired and cynical and sad.

When she heaves the man back onto his tiny boat, he isn't moving.

"Oh, shit. Wake up, dude!" She's not first-aid trained and barely knows how to keep herself alive. Still, she tries fruitlessly to pump his chest and is actually considering attempting CPR when the man lets out a loud snore.

A wave of relief washes over her, before it is replaced by pure, unfiltered, annoyance.

He falls overboard and makes her save his half-naked ass and worry about him because he's _asleep_?

Seriously, the _nerve_ of some people.

He hasn't even woken up after a storm, falling into the ocean and her feeble attempts at resuscitation. If he goes overboard again, he might really drown.

So she stays on the boat and protects it from the storm, keeping it on course to the nearest island. Because really, she's pretty hungry and this guy has no food _anywhere_ on his dinky little banana boat.

She'll make him buy her lunch as payment for this.

-x- -x- -x-

Ace is really surprised when he wakes up to a pretty girl, which is pretty unexpected by itself, but made even more so by the fact that he was on Striker in the middle of the ocean when he fell asleep.

It's even _worse_ somehow, because she's talking to a massive _Sea King_ , which is pulling them along and nodding it's massive squid-head at intervals- like it's _actually listening_.

 _What the hell_ , is his first thought.

 _Lunch_ , is his second.

"Hello, what are you doing on my boat?" Is what he says instead, hands preparing to burst into flame if she tries to attack him.

"You were going to drown if I didn't save you," is her blunt answer, and Ace winces.

"Thank you," he bows his head briefly, "but where did you come from?"

"From the sea," she replies with all seriousness, and Ace feels like slamming his head against something hard. He doesn't, of course, because the only available surface is Striker, and if he breaks it, it's pretty much the end of him.

He checks the log pose on his wrist instead of talking to the weird girl, and surprisingly, they've been heading in the right direction.

"You should thank Patricia too," she says again. "She's the one who's been pulling us along, haven't you, girl?" The sea king lets out a trumpeting squeal and waves a massive tentacle.

 _Dear God, she's gone and named the bloody thing_.

-x- -x- -x-

Nico shovels bread into his mouth as the pirates stare at him, but he's a little more preoccupied staring at that one kid who just shoved an entire fish into his mouth, bones and all.

Before regurgitating a perfect fish skeleton.

No one else looks shocked.

 _What in Hades-_

"Thanks for the food. Hey, where am I?" He asks, gulping down the water they'd offered him.

"We're pirates!" The kid in the straw hat cheers, punching his fist in the air. "This is our ship, Merry. I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

Nico's never heard of that title before. "Cool," he offers, and that seems to satisfy him.

"You idiot!" The orange-haired girl whacks him on the head with a rolled up newspaper before turning to Nico. "I'm Nami, the navigator, and this guy is Luffy, the captain of this ship. That one with the swords is Zoro, and Usopp's the one with the long nose."

Good to know, but still not really answering his question.

"I'm Nico," he says again for good measure. "Er, where exactly are we?"

"We're still in the East Blue, don't worry. We passed the Gecko Islands two days ago, but we're on route to the Baratie."

East Blue? Gecko Islands? Baratie?

"Where's the East Blue, exactly?" Damnit, if he's somewhere in Australia again, he'd be better off heading straight to Camp Half-Blood and finding Penny there.

"Are you an idiot?" Luffy asks bluntly, finger shoved up his nostril, and Nico resists the urge to clobber his savior.

Nami rolls her eyes but spreads out a map, jabbing at one particular spot.

The map is surprisingly blue, and looks completely different from what Nico is used to. He eyes them suspiciously. "Are you sure you're not the idiots?"

That earns him his own whack on the head. _Hades, this girl's worse than Annabeth_.

-x- -x- -x-

"So, where are you headed?" Ace asks, though what he really wants to know is, _when are you going to get off my boat?_

"I'm not sure," is the blithe reply, and Ace really feels like smacking his head. "I'm looking for someone actually. I don't suppose you've seen him around? He's about fifteen, black hair, eyes and clothes, sorta grumpy? Answers to the name 'Nico'."

She slumps when he replies with a negative, and Ace feels sort of maybe a _little_ sorry for her. He knows what it's like to worry about a troublesome little brother.

They sit in awkward silence as Patricia leaves with a final squawk and shove towards the island. The girl waves and calls out a goodbye, but otherwise stays seated as Ace ropes Striker to the jetty and climbs out.

"Hey, are you gonna sit in there all day?" He asks, annoyed. He's hunting for someone too and doesn't have time to baby some girl, even if she did jump out of the sea with a giant pet squid and save him. "If you're looking for your brother, this is as good a place as any to start."

-x- -x- -x-

The Straw-Hat Pirates, as they call themselves, turn out to be the good sort and agree to let him stay on their ship for a while instead of locking him up or throwing him back in the sea. In the next few hours, Nico manages to figure out a few things.

There are other people on the boat, two goofs called Johnny and Yosaku, who are not part of the crew but supposedly the best bounty hunting pair in this sea. Nico doesn't say it, but they seem pretty deluded to him.

"Captain" Usopp, Scourge of the Seas, is a compulsive liar, but deadly accurate with his slingshot. He's a pretty good storyteller too, even if less than a fifth of his stories are true.

Zoro has monstrous brute strength- seriously, he uses the _anchor_ as a _weight_ – and fights with three swords. At the same time, somehow. Nico would really like to go up against him one day, or watch Penny take him on. That would be cool. Maybe he'll mention it when he finds her.

Nami is money-hungry and probably the only one on their ship with any common sense. She and Annabeth would probably get along like a house on fire, but Nico hasn't decided whether that would be a good thing or not.

Luffy is perpetually hungry, weird as hell, and an idiot to boot.

"No, I'm not going to be a pirate and I'm not joining your crew," Nico grumps as he goes off to hide in a closet or something. Zoro and Nami throw him pitying looks and snickers, but Nico isn't really in the mood for that, because something is terribly wrong with his shadow travelling powers.

He had tried a few minutes ago on deck, aiming for camp half-blood and stepping into the shadow of the mast. He'd melted into familiar darkness for a second, before being thrown out abruptly. Trying again had gotten the same result.

"Hey, that was so cool! Shadow-guy, join my crew!"

He ends up locking himself in the pantry.

None of the usual ghosts are answering him, no matter how much bread and cheese he rips up and shoves in the bucket he is using. No Greeks, no Americans, no Demigods or anyone vaguely familiar.

What he _does_ get is a couple of pirate ghosts whose ship sank in the spot they are sailing over now, and he manages to wring them for information before sending them off.

 _The four blues. Grand line. Red lines, calm belts, marines. Devil fruits?_

A whole new world, and he's lost Penny somewhere out there.

"I hate my life," he sums as he opens the door and gazes out onto the deck, where there is shouting, screaming, and a giant balloon Luffy bouncing a cannonball towards a massive ship shaped like a fish.

Then he turns around and walks back to the pantry, shutting the door firmly behind him.

-x- -x- -x-

For lack of a better idea, Penny follows her boat buddy all the way to the market square.

It's a little like an old-timey sea port, with cobblestone paths and fishermen pulling in their catch of the day, but a few stark differences serve to remind her that it's a different world.

Some of the ships at the dock fly their jolly rogers, and pirates swarm the marketplace, some loud and jocular while others are sullen and have greedy eyes.

Still others are showing off interesting abilities, like that one guy growing and shortening his foot-long fingernails, or that other lady with the elephant ears.

Absorbed as she is in taking in all the rights, Penny doesn't forget to keep in pace with her target as he makes his way towards a bar.

His silly orange hat stops moving, and she stops a few feet away. "Are you still following me?" He asks, sounding a little annoyed. He doesn't wait for her to answer but steamrolls on. "Come on then, I'll buy you lunch as thanks."

Penny follows silently in his wake as other people take one look at the giant purple tattoo on his back and practically leap out of the way, and doesn't say anything until they're both seated at the bar counter.

"Hi, I'm Penny." How rude of her to forget to introduce herself. Mum would be rolling in her grave if she knew.

"I'm Ace. Where are you headed?"

Cool name. "Actually, I'm lost. How do I find a missing person around here?"

Ace tilts his head. "Actually, I'm trying to find someone myself. I'm not sure where exactly he is though, so I'm going off rumors mostly, but he's definitely on this half of the grand line and not that far from here." He stops talking to start in on an alarming amount of food, which disappears at an astonishing rate. Penny stops to stare.

Nico can't _possibly_ have done anything to start rumors in the couple of hours they've been apart, so Penny dismisses that suggestion for the moment.

Maybe it will work next week or something.

"How about the…marines?" She asks, having heard them mentioned in town and even seen a few in their uniforms. They seem to be the people in charge, this world's police force or protectors or whatever. "And what's the grand line?"

This makes Ace pause, drumstick hanging out of his mouth comically. "Marines? Well, I suppose you could go to them, maybe, but they probably won't be much help if you're a pirate too. Wait, you've never heard of the grand line? Have you been living under a rock or something?"

 _Ace is a pirate?_ "Yeah, that sounds about right. Tell me about this world, please?"

It turns out to be a very fruitful conversation.

-x- -x- -x-

It's worse than he thought. The girl- Penny- knows nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

It's impressive, in a rather horrifying way.

"How can you not know any of this?" He demands, shoveling stew in his mouth as she eats her own food rather less hurriedly. She shrugs, but doesn't seem inclined to answer, so Ace lets it go.

He's sorry for her, but not sorry enough to drag a civilian girl around the world with him.

At least, that's until a squad of marines bursts through the doorway and starts yelling and waving their weapons around.

"Fire Fist Ace!" The leader yells, brandishing his sword, "You and your associate are both under arrest!"

His cronies burst into cheers and chants of _"Captain Boris is the strongest!"_ as Ace and Penny exchange incredulous glances before bursting into laughter.

"You're my associate now," he sniggers childishly, spooning mashed potatoes into his mouth. "Better start running. I'm a famous pirate, you know."

She throws a fork at him.

-x- -x- -x-

Penny makes her escape by following Ace out the window, a horde of screaming marines chasing after them.

Their run doesn't last long, because that loser captain is apparently smarter than he looks, and sent half his squad chasing after them while he retreated to the docks to wait.

"Hey, I don't have anywhere else to go, so can I follow you?" She asks, reaching into her pocket.

"Sure, whatever," is the distracted reply, and Penny allows herself a grim smile as Riptide shimmers into existence in her hand.

A massive fireball blasts most of the marines into the sea as their captain launches himself at her, clearly deeming her the lesser threat.

Penny ducks his sword, and a quick test shows her Riptide doesn't work here, so she slams its hilt into the back of his head and scoops up his sword instead, capping Riptide and shoving it back into her pocket.

Her new sword is balanced and of acceptable quality, but not as good as she is used to using. _Oh well, it'll make do_ , she thinks, as she fights her way through the remaining marines and towards Ace's yellow boat.

He's already there and waiting impatiently, mooring rope burnt neatly off by the time she jumps on.

"Not bad for a Rookie," he smirks, one foot turning into _freaking fire_ , "but you might want to hold onto something."

She wraps herself around the mast just in time for the boat to blast off, skimming over the surface of the sea. In less than a minute, the island is out of sight.

 _Don't do anything dumb, Nico_ , she thinks as she slumps down into her seat. _I'll find you soon._

-x- -x- -x-

 **Author's note:**

 **Sorry, I just had to do this. It's been eating away at my brain for a while, so I had to get it out in order to concentrate on other stuff.**

 **If any of you read my other fic** _ **Ascension**_ **(new chapter coming soon, I swear) you'll probably know I'm not really the best updater. Once a month was like, my limit, and that was with only one fic to work on, so I have no idea how frequent updates will be, but I'll try.**

 **I actually intended this to be a one-shot, but then it got too big so I had to split it up sigh.**

 **Yes, I'm aware that my characterization isn't really the best, but bear with me please. I gotta admit that I've only read the PJO series and not the whole Heroes of Olympus part, and it was really really long ago so I'm super rusty with that fandom. Penny needs some work especially, since she's a little different here, besides the whole she's-a-girl thing.**

 **I'm more familiar with One Piece, though all my knowledge post fishman-island arc is pretty much from all the fics I read, since those were the last chapters out when I started reading OP and I have very bad manga-following habits. (They're basically non-existent, hint)**

 **So yup. Any comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave a message or something!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Ocean Never Ends**

 _And neither will we._

 **Chapter 2**

Nico's reprieve doesn't last long before Zoro bursts in and drags him out by the collar.

"Ah, you're here," Nami drawls disinterestedly, not bothering to look up from her tea as Zoro stomps into the Baratie and dumps his unwilling cargo on an empty seat.

Usopp slides a menu over, already engrossed in his own and marking certain pages with his fingers.

The food the Baratie offers is…strange. Elephant Tuna, Bananadile, and a whole other dazzling array of meat and fruit and spices he's never heard of in his life. It's a good thing he's sorta starting to get hungry.

What's less good is that he's pretty much broke, asides from the few crumpled American dollars in his pocket, but the Baratie probably doesn't accept those. He's about to point out his utter inability to pay, before it occurs to him that these nice pirates he's travelling with will probably pick up the tab, and if they don't, well.

He'd probably have enough energy to escape before they catch him. Even if they _do_ manage to grab him, he'd probably just spend the next few months washing dishes or something while he waits for Penny to track him down.

No big deal.

-x- -x- -x-

The next few islands are nothing special, but the fourth is nothing like the ones before.

Forests and fields stretch as far as the eye can see, the greenery only broken by a tiny village nestled by the beach.

"Where is this?" Penny asks from her seat at the front of Striker, shirtsleeves rolled up and jacket behind her head.

Ace laughs. "It's one of Oyaji's islands," he announces cheerfully. "The land is great for farming and the fruit orchards are some of the best in the New World, so they asked for our protection."

"That's nice," Penny smiles as they pull Striker higher on the beach, before something makes her freeze. "Someone's screaming."

"I hear it too." Ace frowns, letting go of his boat and taking off toward the village. "Let's go."

It's chaos. And it only gets worse once they see the massive tattoo covering Ace's back.

-x- -x- -x-

The food has barely arrived before another waiter strolls over.

"Ehh? It's you guys! You're eating good food while I'm working? How selfish!"

Oh, it's Luffy. And apparently he's decided to put his dream of being Pirate King on hold to work as a waiter instead.

"Hey, chore boy!"

"I heard you have to stay here for a year!"

"Why don't we redraw our pirate flag?"

Nico isn't completely sure what's going on, but he's pretty sure it has something to do with the hole in the roof of the restaurant and Luffy being Luffy, so he just waves and pours himself some soup.

Then Luffy puts his snot in Zoro's water and gets the cup poured down his throat, so Nico stuffs his face and pretends not to know any of them. It doesn't work very well, since they're sharing a table and there's only so far he can go before someone tries to make him pay for his own food.

Fortunately, his misery doesn't last long, since a blond waiter twirls to their table and starts swooning over Nami.

"Oh! Such radiance! Could it be- a goddess descending to grace this humble restaurant? But surely you are beauty itself given form! To bask in your glorious presence I would become even a lowly pirate or devil. But alas, between us lies an insurmountable obstacle -"

A speech worthy of the sappiest romance novel in existence. Nico stares as the waiter proclaims his love for someone he just met, delivering his monologue with such conviction that his eyes actually have hearts in them, and feels like he's dying a little inside.

Luckily, not everyone is stunned into silence, as an old man with a really tall chef's hat cuts in with a, "the obstacle being me, right, Sanji?"

It degenerates into another argument of "leave with them, already!" and "no way, old geezer!" and even Penny and Clarisse never got this bad. Then Sanji gets thrown into the table and ends up telling Nami her food is free and Nico wonders how this became his life.

Things only get worse once some pirate with funky blue sideburns and a leopard-print shirt appears.

-x- -x- -x-

"Traitor!"

"Liars!"

"Screw you pirates!"

"Get off our island!"

The shouts are furious and desperate, punctuated with thrown rocks and fruit, which only manage to pass through Ace while being set on fire.

"Oi, oi. What's going on?" Penny thinks Ace sounds pretty calm for someone faced with an angry mob, so he probably knows what he's doing. She reaches for her stolen sword anyway.

There's a moment of silence as a lone watermelon rolls between them and the villagers, before the standoff is broken by a lone boy wielding a broomstick.

"Yaaarghhh! Give Haru back, you stinking pirate!" He charges out of a nearby house, arms and broomstick held above his head and ready to swing. "How dare you come back here– yowch!"

He trips over a stray stone and his broom whacks Ace in the face.

"Y-Yuuji! Get back here!"

"Come back, you little brat!"

"Ouch," Ace deadpans as he hoists the kid up by his collar, "what was that for?" He gazes around the village and at its inhabitants, before putting him down and adjusting the brim of his hat. "I think we need to have a little chat."

-x- -x- -x-

That dude, Don Creep, is apparently the Ruler of East Blue; owner of unbreakable armor and gorilla sideburns, and commander of an armada comprising a single ship that looks like it's seen better days.

Nico hopes he doesn't _actually_ end up taking the Baratie, because he really likes the food, and that would ruin his wait-here-for-Penny-while-eating-all-their-food plan.

"I, Don Krieg, will be taking this ship. If you leave now, I will spare your pitiful lives!"

Yeah, nope. Nico doesn't think so. And from the looks on their faces, neither do the chefs and Luffy's crew.

" – this ship will carry me through the Grand Line and make me the Pirate King!"

"No it won't," Luffy announces, finger up his nose. " _I'm_ the one who's going to be Pirate King!"

And somehow, in that moment, even as the blue-haired monkey and the chefs start yelling, and Luffy stands there with his grin and apron and his simple vest and pants, he is unbowed and untouchable in his conviction, and Nico _believes him_.

His hand trails down to grasp the hilt of his sword. He's really not at all involved in this, but maybe he'll land a hand this once.

Then there's the soft whistle of wind and Don Creep's galleon splits in half. Amidst the resulting scrambling of everyone in the restaurant to secure their own ships and the discovery that Nami has stolen the ship, a small boat drifts closer, the lone figure lounging against a massive black sword.

"He's here!" Don Creep's crew cries, some dropping their weapons and falling to his knees. "He's followed us all the way back here to destroy us! The hawk-eyed man is here!" The Don himself pales at the sight.

"Hawkeyes Mihawk, the world's strongest swordsman," comes the whisper, and the title is clearly well deserved just by the speed and grace with which he deflects bullets.

And of course, since Luffy and his crew are all various kinds of crazy, Zoro decides it is the perfect time to challenge him for the sake of his dream.

Although Zoro is strong, it's clear to Nico from the very start that Zoro has no chance of winning.

He still can't turn his eyes away.

-x- -x- -x-

"So," Ace announces as he springs to his feet, "people pretending to be Whitebeard pirates trashed your town and kidnapped your kids." His fists clench and burst into flames. " _Unforgivable_."

Disgusting, thieving slavers trying to frame other people for their crimes. Nico's a big boy now; he can wait a little longer.

"We should go," she says, retying her ponytail as she stands. "They only left a few hours ago. We can catch up."

Ace doesn't appear to have heard her. "We'll definitely bring them back!" He vows, turning to walk off before a thought seems to occur to him. "It's not your problem," he begins, staring straight into her eyes, "but you're decent with a sword and I might need help sailing their ship back, since I can't fit everyone on Striker. Will you help me?"

"Stupid." Penny scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Of course I will. Now hurry up."

Once the villagers point them towards the east, they're off, the island shrinking behind them as Striker powers through the waves.

"Turn three degrees to the port side and we'll hit them within an hour and a half," Penny announces, her hand dangling over the side and into the ocean. Ace lifts a questioning brow but does as she says with no comment.

"Wait, how'd you know?" Or maybe not.

Ah, how to say this… "Magic".

Ace does not look amused.

-x- -x- -x-

The ship looms before them, casting Striker into shadow, and a quick glance at the sun tells Ace that Penny's prediction was right. He still doesn't know how she did it.

"So, who exactly are these people, and what can they do?" She tilts her head in contemplation, green eyes glinting.

"They've been going around pretending to be part of us, so I was already looking for them. They're actually the Blackwing Pirates, led by 'Silverfang' Fynn who's eaten the vampire bat devil fruit." Ace shrugs. "The crew has to be pretty strong, even for the new world, if they want to pick a fight with Oyaji. I hear over half of them have eaten devil fruits, but we don't have the specifics."

"Devil fruits… I guess they're pretty strong, then." Her eyes look like they're trying to drill holes in the ship to sink it, which actually would have been a pretty good plan, if not for the kids.

"Be careful," Ace warns, cracking his knuckles. "Remember the kids are our priority, so don't sink the ship."

"Do devil fruits have any weaknesses?" He stares for a while before remembering, oh yeah, Penny lived under a rock or something and knows basically nothing.

"Seawater," he says, and watches a smirk curve her lips. "I'll be the distraction, you get to the kids as fast as you can. Ready?"

He grabs her around the waist and counts down.

 _3…2…1…_

His feet touch the wooden deck in front of his targets and he barely has time to let go of Penny before a shadow blocks out the setting sun.

It's a massive wave, far taller than the Moby Dick, let alone this dinky little ship. Ace curses, glancing around in panic, because if the ship sinks they're all dead dead _dead_.

A hand grasps his, and he looks down into mischievous eyes. "Brace yourself," she whispers.

Then all he can see is blue.

-x- -x- -x-

Zoro is alive. Nico knows this, can feel it at the back of his mind and in his bones. He is not meant to die today.

So he watches as Luffy flings himself at Mihawk and Zoro is fished out, as Mihawk all but declares Zoro his chosen successor, and as Zoro makes his own vow.

 _This_ is this strength of the strongest in this world. _This_ is the potential of Luffy's crew.

This is what Nico himself will chase and fight to surpass, for as long as he stays here.

"Hawk-eye! Did you come all the way here for my head? Because here I am!" Seriously, some people don't know when to stop and thank the gods for sparing them.

"For a while, I did," Mihawk admits, turning his head to look him in the eye, "but I've had my fun for now, so I'm going back to my nap." His eyes travel across the pirate crew before turning to those standing on the Baratie. Nico notices the moment the eyes flick to his sword, and then to him. "Unless this one wishes to cross his blade with mine?"

"Not particularly," Nico lies. He wants to, he really does, but he isn't ready and they both know it. But one day he will, and it will be one of the greatest fights in his life.

"Come, boy." Mihawk orders, making his way to his boat. "I would speak with you. And have no fear," he flicks his gaze to Luffy and Zoro, "I will return you unharmed."

Nico shrugs and follows him.

-x- -x- -x-

Growing up in East Blue, Ace had learnt to swim from a young age. He'd known it would be a useful skill for a pirate, and even enjoyed it too. Then Sabo and Luffy had come along, and they'd shared Luffy-duty, since he was just useless in the water, which meant even more swimming but he didn't mind.

Eating his devil fruit had been a close call. On one hand, he would never be able to swim again, would never be able to save Luffy if he fell into the ocean again. But on the other hand, it would make him strong, strong enough to never lose anyone like he'd lost Sabo again, strong enough to protect his precious little brother. If he ate the mera-mera no mi, they would no longer have to fear fire, like the ones that had torn the three of them apart.

He'd eaten it, and the price of never swimming again was one he was willing to but not glad to pay.

Once, Ace had gotten drunk and thrown himself into the sea, believing he could still swim. The water was cold and dark and drained him of every drop of energy, leaving only ice and despair in its wake before the numbness set in. He'd thought he was going to die, and after being fished out by his then-first-mate, had resigned himself to never swimming, or even being able to touch the ocean again.

Blue surrounds him, cool and comforting, but for once that terrible draining feeling doesn't appear. It almost feels like he's ten again and back on the mountain, fishing Luffy out of the river before heading back to the treehouse where Sabo has dinner ready.

The memory disappears almost as quickly as it came, leaving only Penny and a now-empty deck, the crew having been washed overboard by the giant wave.

"Why didn't you tell me you ate a devil fruit?" He asks, and doesn't quite manage to keep the relief out of his voice. But everything is suddenly so _clear_ – the way she'd known where to find the ship and how to get there, how she'd been so calm with a massive wave bearing down that by all rights should have _killed_ them – "What fruit did you eat, anyway?"

Penny doesn't get to answer before suddenly he can hear the crying below deck and it makes his blood boil, so he decides what the heck, this can wait, and drags her down the stairs instead.

The wave must have swept most of the crew and almost all the strong fighters and devil fruit users overboard, because Penny and Ace do meet a bunch of people, and they are all taken out relatively quickly. None of them even seem to have noticed the wave or that a whole bunch of their crewmates are taking a swim, and they all look terribly shocked to see intruders on board their ship.

Ace doesn't let his guard down, though because they haven't run into Fynn or his first mate Hael, and he highly doubts that they were thrown aboard earlier.

He's right to be cautious, because when they emerge, the frightened children in the room reveal the true nature of a slaver's ship, and Fynn and Hael are both there.

"Well, well. If it isn't Whitebeard Second Division Commander Portgas D 'Fire Fist' Ace." Fynn smiles mockingly, elongated canines showing as his shapeless grey bucket hat throws his eyes into shadow. A terrified boy stands in front of him, held in place by an arm on his shoulder as another half-morphed arm moves towards his neck and hooked claws flicker across his skin.

"Let the kid go, Fynn." Hostage situations are always tricky, especially when the villain has basically no morals or honor whatsoever. Fynn would just as soon slit the boy's throat as let him go, and that made the difference.

"You're in no position to make demands, Fire Fist," he replies, and his claws dig in, drawing blood, "but I am. So why don't you make your way over to Hael and let him cuff you before I slit this child's throat?"

-x- -x- -x-

"I'm sorry," Ace says, seated on the floor beside her with his hat covering his eyes, "for dragging you into this. It's my fault for bringing you here, and now they're going to sell you or kill you."

Penny glances at his hunched form and thinks about how he looks so different from a few hours ago, when he was filled with life and laughter. "Is there any way we can escape?"

"Seastone." He rasps, fiddling with the cuffs around his wrists and ankles. The chains rattle. "I can't do anything with this on."

They have only cuffed her hands, clearly not thinking her as big a threat as Ace. Their mistake. The cuffs are smooth, grey stone, apparently hard as diamond and with a weakening effect on devil fruit users.

They also have the same wavelength as the sea, and that's good enough for her. Penny says a quick, silent prayer to Poseidon for luck, and breathes in. When she opens her eyes again, the cuffs are melting off her wrists slowly, like too-wet clay or blueberry yoghurt. She's free within a minute.

"If you're done telling yourself you're a horrible person," she says, just to get his attention, "I can free you and we can continue our heroic rescue mission." She lets her cuffs drop to the floor and rubs her wrists for emphasis.

"And close your mouth," she adds, moving closer to lay her hands on Ace's cuffs. "You'll catch flying fish."

-x- -x- -x-

"Tell me, boy," Mihawk says, and the weight of his gaze, Nico thinks, is such that it must be almost as heavy as Atlas' burden, "who you are and where you are from."

Mihawk is strong, and really quite terrifying, but Nico doesn't trust him. Not yet.

"Nico Di Angelo, sixteen years old. I'm currently travelling with Luffy's crew while I search for someone – she's eighteen, black hair and green eyes, answers to 'Penny' and lands in trouble wherever she goes. I don't suppose you've seen her around?"

"I haven't," Mihawk says, with what seems like an uncharacteristic amount of patience, "but if she's such a troublemaker, then keep an eye on the news while you head for the Grand Line with the Strawhats. Chances are you'll find her there."

Nico nods. "I'd like to go back now, if that's alright."

A pause. "This is not your fight. Down there, they are fighting for things greater than themselves, and so they will win."

They watch in silence as Don Creep's galleon disintegrates in the distance, and

Mihawk finally steers his boat back to the Baratie. It had been like being enclosed in a bubble, with the sounds of battle and even the movement of the waves drowned out by Mihawk's presence. But it seems that not even the greatest swordsman in the world can keep Luffy's yells at bay for long.

The bubble pops, and Nico finds himself standing on what's left of the Baratie's fin, surrounded by yelling and sobbing laughter.

"Your sword, boy, feels like it should not belong. The same should be said for you, but you fit, barely. I was… curious. But we will match blades in the future, and I will wait until then."

Mihawk leaves, disappearing into the mist like a phantom. _What the hell_ , Nico thinks, because no matter how helpful that was, it was still all kinds of weird.

-x- -x- -x-

"What… how… Argh! Wait. Rescue mission. Right." Ace stumbles to his feet, more from shock than from weakness. "They're going _down_."

"Do you have a plan?" Penny picks up the cuffs, which immediately begin releasing the iron chains keeping them attached to the wall. In the end, she's left holding a large hunk of rock, which actually becomes a rather decent-looking sword.

"Secure the kids," Ace says after a moment of contemplation, "or they'll be used as hostages again. We move them somewhere safe, then we go and beat some losers up. Or you can stay to protect the kids if you want."

Penny shrugs. "I'd probably be more useful on deck, but it's your call."

Ace scratches his head, then repositions his hat when it threatens to fall. "Let's get the kids first. But if we run into Fynn, he's mine."

The room they were in is surprisingly unguarded. The crew probably wasn't expecting them to be able to free themselves, more preoccupied with rescuing those flung overboard. Penny feels smugly satisfied at the thought.

In any case, they make their escape undetected, and stop to open every door on the floor. They only have to whack one person over the head, tie him up, and hide him in a closet before they reach a stairwell.

Further exploration and three pirates later, they find their way back to the children huddled in a room one floor below the room Ace and Penny had been dumped in.

"Let us go, stinking pirates!" One spits, arms wrapped around a much-younger girl. His face looks startlingly like that other kid's – Yuuji's – this, then, must be Haru.

"Hey, hey. Haru, right?" Clearly, Ace has come to the same conclusion as her. "We're not with them. We're saving you guys, actually." He turns, points at the massive tattoo spanning his back. "I'm Ace from the Whitebeard Pirates, and this is Penny. Er, Yuuji and the rest of 'em asked us to save you guys, so just hang on and we'll get you home soon."

The kids are tied together with rope instead of metal chains, so Penny makes quick work of the binds with her new Seastone sword, even if it isn't as sharp as she likes. Ace's dagger and her own stolen sword had been swiped after they'd been cuffed, but they wouldn't have to stay with their new owners long.

"Thank you," a boy whispers, the last she has to free. Penny eyes the blood on his neck and nods, smiling at the child she now recognizes as the one Fynn had been threatening. He's young, with a mop of brown hair, large blue eyes and voice as thin as a thread. Protectiveness flares to life within her, and she silently swears to make sure all the kids get home safe, even if she has to reveal all her powers to make it happen.

"Hey, Penny." Ace calls from the doorway, just loud enough for her to hear from across the room. "I'm going to clear out the lower floors. After I come back, we'll clear the upper floors and take them out together. The kids should be safe here while they wait; just check if they're all here."

Then he disappears, leaving Penny standing awkwardly in the middle of young, weepy children.

"Hey, are all of you here?"

"Yeah." Haru's the one who speaks up, the elected leader. "Are you _really_ going to bring us home?"

"Yup." She moves to put herself between the kids and the door, relaxed but still watchful. "So, what are your names?"

Ace doesn't take long to return, coming back halfway through Haru's recounting of their kidnapping.

"Hold that thought, kid," he grins, less tense than before he'd left to clear the lower levels. "Penny and I have work to do."

It doesn't take long to make their way up to the deck. From their position in the stairwell, they have a good view, and Penny makes careful note of the number of pirates and their positions. Taking them out would be simple if she was willing to use her powers openly, but she wasn't. Except maybe as a plan B.

"We'll either knock them out or shove them overboard," Ace mutters, "then you go straight for Hael. I'll take Fynn. Might need to use the Seastone on them though. Ready? On the count of three."

They launch themselves out into the sunlight, Penny swinging her sword and Ace on fire, powering through the pirates before they realize what's happening. They clear the deck of the rest of the crew, and Penny is careful to keep them stuck in the ocean.

Fynn and Hael see them coming from the other end of the ship though, and are ready to meet them. Exchanging glances, Penny and Ace head straight for their own targets.

-x- -x- -x-

Dinner is… eventful.

Nico had been one of the first seated, next to the moustache-braid guy, Head Chef and Owner Zeff, and so he'd been in on the plan to get Sanji off the Baratie and on Luffy's crew.

His role basically boiled down to: "Sit down and shut up if you can, kid. And don't drink the soup while he's looking." Which was fine, really. Nico fully intended to cooperate, since success meant he'd eat well on the journey to the Grand Line.

The Grand Line. That's where he's going. Most dangerous sea in the world, the pirate's graveyard; or to hear Luffy talk about it, 'that's where adventure is!'

And Mihawk's right - that's probably where Penny is. And even if she's looking for him, he can't just wait around on his ass for her to find him. He's a hero too, and maybe this is one of the times where _she_ needs _his_ help.

If she does, there's no way he's not going to come through.

But first, he needs a plan. Information – he needs to know more about what they're going to get into. Maybe he can speak to Zeff, or call up more ghosts, or –

The door slams open. "Fooood!" Luffy doesn't seem affected by the lack of chairs, and plops down on the floor with a heaping tray. Sanji looks disgruntled, but takes a seat near Luffy anyway.

The yelling starts.

"Who made this soup?"

"Oh, it was me. Pretty good, right? I used –" Sanji is beaming now, practically glowing with excitement and ready to rattle off his recipe.

"It's crap! How'd you expect me to drink this?"

He's furious now, jumping to his feet and walking around his tray. "Proper human food not good enough for you, damn raccoon?"

Patty continues, brandishing a ham-sized fist and turning it into a thumbs down. "It's crap, I said! Did you put actual crap in there or what?"

"I'm perfectly confident about my soup," Sanji glares, looking ready to throw down. Nico shifts a little, ready to run out the back door if everything goes to hell in a hand basket.

Enter Carne, as per the script they'd so carefully written out an hour ago. "Yuck! Gross! We can't eat this filth, throw it out!" He dumps his soup onto the floor, his actions mirrored by assistants Pesce and Tori, before everyone else begins to do the same.

"The hell are you doing? You -"

Sanji is cut off by Zeff, who stands and throws both his and Nico's bowls on the floor.

"I was drinking that," Nico mutters, but of course no one listens to him. He takes another sandwich and tops up his tea to make up for it, and looks up just in time to see Sanji run out and slam the door behind him.

Sanji doesn't run far though, seating himself on the other side of the door. The chefs start talking anyway, explaining themselves to Luffy and begging him to take Sanji with him. Nico's pretty sure Sanji can hear everything, but doesn't say a word. He does take another bowl of soup though.

When Nico first saw Luffy, he wasn't that impressed. He'd only seen some kid with a hat and grin, nice enough but not too bright, and as stubborn as a donkey. Or Penny.

But he's a good kid with a good heart, who knows what he wants and says what he means, with enough conviction to power an army. He refuses to take Sanji on without his consent, but agrees to follow Yosaku without hesitation despite not knowing anything.

Nico can respect that, and it looks like Sanji can too.

So they pack up Sanji's boat, and Nico steps on quietly as Sanji kowtows to Zeff and cries his thanks. "Owner Zeff! Thank you for everything! I swear, I will never forget what you've done for me for the rest of my life!"

There isn't a dry eye left in the place, and Nico turns to wipe his face with his shirt surreptitiously as Patty and Carne start wailing.

"Damn idiots," Zeff grumbles, hand covering his face and moustache wet with tears, " real men should say their farewells silently."

Sanji completely ignores him. "Let's meet again one day, you good-for-nothing bastards!"

While the rest of the cooks continue crying, Luffy flings his hands into the air. "Yosh! Oh, Shadow-guy, you're here! Alright, let's go!"

They leave the Baratie with cheers ringing in their ears.

-x- -x- -x-

Hael is strong, undeniably so, a skilled swordsman both swift and merciless. Penny is handicapped by her aversion to use her powers, but meets him blow for blow with her own sword. Everything's moving quickly and all her senses are on overdrive, but she isn't afraid.

She's a demigod, and she was born for this.

Faster and faster she moves, sword gleaming dully, and Hael's smirk drops off his face to make way for a snarl.

He disengages, ripping his hat off and throwing it on the floor as his horns swell and lengthen. They're black and wickedly sharp, curling round to point almost at her as he lowers his head. A thick covering of dark wool starts popping up as well, visible above his collar and below his shirtsleeves.

"Well, this is a woolly situation," Penny quips as they both raise their swords again. He's faster now, she realizes, his transformation giving his reflexes and strength a noticeable boost, and his wool is tightly woven enough to act a little like armor. This might be a harder fight than she anticipated.

This time, she's the one who breaks their stalemate, taking two quick steps back and to the right. He mirrors her, stopping directly opposite her with his back towards the sea.

"So, goatface –"

"Sheep, actually." He offers mildly, the anger from before buried deep again.

"Yeah, yeah, Goaty McGoatface, I gotcha. Was pretty obvious, I mean, what with the physical resemblance and all, even before you got all fuzzy and horny. You might need a bath, you know, all that fur's been trapping your sweat, and now you stink. Not that you didn't before, of course, but it's all relative, I suppose." Not even close to her best work, but Penny's always been gifted at pissing people off, and from the twitching of his eyelid, she's succeeding again even though most of her concentration is spent on drawing seawater up the sides of the ship.

"Poisonous words from a pretty face," Hael smiles. It's not a nice smile; more like a grimace actually, simmering anger close to overflowing. "But no matter how much you stall, you will lose. Fire Fist is busy and can't help you, but if you put that sword down and come quiet-like, I wont hurt you too bad."

"Uh, very tempting offer, really," Penny tries to look convincing and scared. It doesn't really work. "But won't you overheat under all that fluff? I think I could probably outlast you. Loser."

Her last remark is flavored with a hint of satisfaction, as the seawater she'd called finally reaches its target, lunging forward and covering Hael's legs up to the knee before moving up swiftly to encase him completely. He doesn't even have time to curse before he's out like a light.

Penny stares at the unconscious man in a pillar of water, then shrugs. A slight push has him crumpled on the floor, as most of the water flows away from him to lap at her ankles. After a moment of consideration, and another of concentration, her sword splits neatly in two, each half lengthening and thinning.

With her prisoner secured, she turns to look for Ace, the other rope in hand. He's finishing up his own fight, Fynn's creepy bat-wings not much use against fireballs, and she turns just in time to see him knock his opponent out with a fire-fist to the face.

Soon both captain and first mate are tied up and stuffed in an empty room, while Penny fishes the rest of the pirates from the sea. Luckily, an extra stock of seastone and iron manacles is unearthed, so they're all safely locked away and the kids are let out and given the run of the ship.

Seven kids, Ace, and her. Effectively four people to steer the ship, since only two of the children are old and strong enough to be of any use.

"Let's do this!" Ace announces, crossing his arms. If he's uncertain at all, it doesn't show, as he swiftly assigns positions and digs up maps and instruments from the navigation room.

He squints at a map. "As far as I can tell," he says, lifting a pen to circle an area, "we're somewhere here." He draws another, smaller circle around a nearby island in the southwest. "This is the nearest marine base. We'll make a slight detour to dump the pirates there and then if everything goes well, we'll have everyone back home by dinnertime."

Penny pulls the map towards her, relieving Ace of his pen at the same time, and marks a tiny cross in the circle. "There."

"What?"

"That's where we are now," she shrugs, putting the pen down and rolling it across the table. "Maybe I could take the wheel. I'm a pretty good sailor."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Go for it." He looks both dazed and slightly amazed, gaping like a fish before his eyes slide shut and he slumps over the table, snoring.

Penny leaves after patting his head through his hat - she's got a ship to steer, after all. And if the ship moves faster than it should be able to, or gets caught in a previously nonexistent current, or steers itself to their destination unerringly – well, no one's going to call her out on it.

-x- -x- -x-

Astral Projection. Dream Travel. That's the answer.

Nico had considered it fleetingly hours ago, then made a note and shifted his attention elsewhere. He'd been way too low on energy, and the time hadn't been right anyhow.

But now he has some time, enough to search out Penny and, if she's asleep, figure out how to meet up travel back to their own world somehow. But if she's awake, he'd have to decide whether to send her to sleep even though he doesn't know what kind of situation she's in, or just keep trying until he finally visits her when she's asleep.

He's lucky, in more ways than one. He manages to find Penny rather easily – much easier than he'd expected it to be – because he _knows_ Penny, knows the way she thinks and feels, and her mindscape is kinda a representation of that. She's tired, drifting, and it only takes a gentle nudge for her to finally fall asleep.

-x- -x- -x-

Ditching the pirates at the marine base goes without a hitch.

Well, just a small hitch. Tiny. Miniscule. Not even worth mentioning, really.

There were too many pirates – thirty-seven of them – for Ace and Penny to dump at the base and speed off, or to slowly drag them to the base from the other end of the island and hide them, especially since there are kids around. So Ace decides, what the hell, they should just dump the whole ship for the marines and steal a marine ship instead.

They'd lowered the pirate flag and hidden the ship in a cove near the base, sending Ace to scope the place out and leaving Penny behind as a guard.

In hindsight, that might not have been the best idea, since Ace is apparently incapable of sneaking into a marine base quietly, judging from the screaming and smoke visible even from where they were.

"Hey, look! It's another boat!"

Penny jogs toward Haru, following his gaze over the railing to the longboat bobbing below the stern.

"Oops." She mutters, then raises her voice slightly. "Alright, everyone in the boat! Haru, you're in charge, make sure everyone is there." There's a rope ladder in a barrel nearby, so she ties one end to the rail and heaves the rest overboard to land neatly in the boat, and helps Haru herd the rest of the kids.

Once done, she makes sure all the ropes are secure again, but doesn't get into the longboat yet. "Okay, new plan. We're gonna get the ships out and nearer to the marine base, then meet up with Ace, ditch this ship, and send you guys home in the longboat. Everyone clear?" There's a smattering of yeses, so Penny focuses on moving the ship out and towards the chaos.

Penny is careful to keep the ship travelling at a normal speed and to stop further out at sea than she thinks they can launch their cannonballs, but it doesn't take long before the base itself is in sight. And smell. And sound.

Good job, Ace.

She grabs the maps, climbs down into the longboat, throws the ladder overboard, and picks up an oar to steer the boat around the ship so they have a good view but aren't in sight. They settle down to wait, but it doesn't take long before Striker comes into view.

"Ace!" She calls, and sees his jaw drop at the sight of the ship, decidedly not where it is supposed to be. "We found the longboat. Easier to sail," she says, rather unnecessarily.

"That's great," Ace shifts uncomfortably, face slightly red, "because I think all their boats are on fire."

Sudden silence. Even the kids are quiet, and the ocean stills.

"Nii-san is dumb," Haru announces gravely, to exasperated approval, and Ace hangs his head in shame.

Penny shakes her head in amusement. It's not like she hasn't screwed up plans before, and at least this was a relatively harmless flub, all things considered.

"Here," she says, holding out the end of the rope that she'd just untied from the longboat. "Since all their boats are gone, why don't you just drag the ship to them, and then we can get going."

This, at least, is completed easily, with Ace towing it on Striker and Penny helping it along from her seat in the boat. Once he's back, they tie the longboat to Striker and set off at high speed.

Within two hours, they're back on the island and having a feast, the children reunited with their weeping families. Ace is the hero of the hour, with ladies both old and young hanging onto his every word. And his shoulders.

"Such a kind boy," the grandmas coo, "and so handsome too. Why, I don't suppose you've met my granddaughter yet, have you? She's a _great_ cook."

"Oh, Ace," the young ladies giggle, " _do_ tell us about what it's like being a pirate. It must be _so_ dangerous."

Their swooning is cut short when Ace faceplants into his pie, snoring.

Penny snickers at the sight, waving off her own few admirers, and follows Haru's mother, who has insisted she take their couch for the night. It's been a long day and Penny's not going to turn it down, so she thanks the lady profusely and bunks down for the night.

Her eyes slide shut within moments.

-x- -x- -x-

"Penny!" He calls, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Nico!" She grins brightly, her face lovely in its familiarity. "I'm so glad to see you. Are you safe?"

When he nods and returns her hug, she continues. "Where are we, Nico? How did we get here?"

"Uh, about that. Remember when we were got attacked by a bunch of weirdoes on our way back? I stepped on something of theirs before I shadow travelled, then things got all weird and we got separated and next thing I know I'm floating in the sea." She gets a _look_ in her eyes, so Nico quickly adds on, "but I got fished out and I've been eating a lot, so I'm good now."

She nods once, firmly. "Good. Did you try shadow travelling home? Can we get back?"

"I did," he says slowly, "but we can't. There's some kind of block and we can't get past, maybe cause we're in a completely different world. I'm sorry."

"Don't be stupid," she says, and smacks the back of his head. "It's not your fault. The only question is - what can we do now?"

"I could probably shadow travel to you," Nico offers, "but I have no idea how to get home." Maybe they could sail with Luffy's crew for a while and see if anything turned up, or if they met anyone on the way who knew anything about jumping worlds.

"I'm somewhere in the second half of the Grand Line now." She throws herself on the ground, lying back and pillowing her head on her arms. "I've been travelling with this guy – Fire Fist Ace, second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He's some famous hotshot pirate or something, and the crew he's on is supposed to be one of the strongest around. I think he's planning on helping me track you down, and we were going to stop by and visit his crew too. They might know something, or someone who does."

Nico mulls over it for a while, dropping to sit beside Penny. "Could work," he thinks, and they'd cover a bit more ground that way. "I'm travelling with this kid called Luffy, and his crew the Strawhat Pirates. We're in East Blue at the moment, but we'll be heading for the Grand Line soon. I'll check in with you a couple of times a week and we can trade info, or if either of us finds something I can get us both there fast."

They'd both be a little on edge, being apart in a strange new world. But they've both found good people to travel with, and that's the best plan they have.

Won't stop them from worrying, though.

"I should go." Nico stands and stretches, remembering that he'd only had time for a short nap before they would reach their destination. The whole visit had taken up so little time that he was sure he'd be awake before anything serious happened, but better safe than sorry.

"Stay safe, Nico," she says, curling onto her side to watch him leave more easily. Her eyes are clear and greener than ever, and something in him relaxes a little more.

"Of course," he replies, "you too. I'll see you soon." He walks away, turning to look back only once, but she's already gone, swallowed up by the swirling grey mist.

A moment later, he wakes.

 **-x- -x- -x-**

 **A/N:**

 **Oh mannn I'm sorry for the delay. It's been months omg. But I'm so glad people actually read this? And liked it. You guys are all super awesome.**

 **I've been super busy. And Lazy. Mostly lazy, sorry guys. But I felt really bad and also really guilty, and also inspiration struck so here, have this super long chapter that's like the longest chapter I've even written. No joke.**

 **Well, hope you guys like it. Please let me know what you think – whether you liked it, hated it, want to see something happen etc, I always love hearing from you guys.**

 **Super sleepy now, so that's all! See you guys again, hopefully sooner rather than later.**


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